Michael Arceneaux

Michael Arceneaux (born April 12, 1984) is an American writer.

Quotes

• Part of that has to do with the fact that the book is a mix of humor and pathos. For me, I love someone like David Sedaris. I think it’s easier for people to consume white gay queer men doing this. It’s different if you’re not [white] because so often we consume otherness solely in terms of pathology. It’s like, “I’m black and gay, so it must be so awful to be me.” The idea of me being able to make fun of my trauma and what I’ve gone through — [publishers] didn’t think there’d be an audience for that. But thankfully we’re proving that there is.
  • On the motivation to write I Can’t Date Jesus: Love, Sex, Family, Race, and Other Reasons I’ve Put My Faith in Beyoncé in Entertainment Weekly (2018 Jul 26)

• I believe in a god. And I just don't think I believe in maybe necessarily the Christian God I was raised to believe in. But I do like the idea of Christians who actually practice the teachings of Christ. I think Jesus is like a swell guy…
  • On how his faith has changed over the years in “Growing Up Black, Gay And Catholic In Texas, Memoirist Put His Faith In Beyoncé” in NPR (2018 Jul 23)

• My mother is very smart, thoughtful, and loving, but I find that religion can take the most intelligent parts of her and warp them. There is a theological argument to be had about being gay, but I have found that trying to have that argument with people who believe their religion is opposed to gay identity is too hard. It tends to dismantle too much of who they are as people. Easier to just clarify, “I plan to have sex, so I can’t date Jesus.”
  • On the relationship with his mother and what inspired the title of his first book in “'I Don't Do Sad Gay': Michael Arceneaux In Conversation With Melissa Harris Perry” in Elle Magazine (2018 Jun 15)

• I don’t want people to consume our suffering. I am not tragic. I don’t want to be pathology porn so I don’t write it.
  • On his attempts to avoid the “sad gay” label in “'I Don't Do Sad Gay': Michael Arceneaux In Conversation With Melissa Harris Perry” in Elle Magazine (2018 Jun 15)